By Tom Brock of pastorsstudy.org. Follow Pastor Brock on Facebook (here) and twitter (here.) Montana Bishop Jessica Crist has written a "pastoral letter" to the churches telling them that each congregation is to decide whether to perform gay marriages. "There is nothing in ELCA policy that requires you to do same-sex marriages. And there is nothing that prohibits it, where the law allows". I couldn't help but think: Bishop, what about God's law? Nowhere in her "pastoral statement" does she mention Scripture. Of course, no one can find a Bible verse to support homosexual "marriage". The ELCA is reminiscent of the Old Testament verse "Everyman did what was right in his own eyes." I'll say it again, it is time to leave the ELCA for a more biblical denomination.---

(Read the Bishop's letter here. At the end of the letter are comments about the letter from Pastor Alan Baglien.)

If I were an ELCA parishioner who hadn’t already left because of the ELCA’s in-God’s-face heresies and apostasies, I’d probably bail out now in the face of the ELCA bishops’ and other leaders' condescending dishonesty toward me, especially in matters relating to the denomination’s ardent embrace of sexual sin.

It’s a matter of record that the ELCA years ago formally abandoned the Bible, made “bound conscience” its only guiding ethic [ http://www.albertmohler.com/2009/10/26/the-idolatrous-religion-of-conscience-a-lutheran-lesson-for-us-all/ ], and spurned the counsel of its godly forefather, who preached:

“. . .Nor may we in our works and in our daily life tolerate the yielding to the wantonness of the flesh and at the same boast the Gospel of Christ, as did the Corinthians, who stirred up among themselves divisions and disorder, even to the extent of one marrying his stepmother. In such matters as these, Paul says, a little leaven leavens and ruins the whole lump - the entire Christian life. These two things are not consistent with each other: to hold to the Christian faith and to live after the wantonness of the flesh, in sins and vices condemned by the conscience. Paul elsewhere warns (I Cor 6, 9-10): ”Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with men, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.” Again (Gal 5, 19-21): ”The works of the flesh are manifest . . . of which I forewarn you, even as I did forewarn you, that they who practice such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.”

"Warrant is given here likewise for censuring and restraining the rash individuals who assert that men should not be terrified by the Law, nor surrendered to Satan. No! it is our duty to teach men to purge out the old leaven; we must tell them they are not Christians, but devoid of the faith, when they yield to the wantonness of the flesh and wilfully persevere in sin against the warning of conscience. We should teach that such sins are so much the more vicious and damnable when practiced under the name of the Gospel, under cover of Christian liberty; for that is despising and blaspheming the name of Christ and the Gospel: and therefore such conduct must be positively renounced and purged out, as irreconcilable with faith and a good conscience.” [Martin Luther, "Easter Sunday Sermon": http://www.lutherdansk.dk/Web-sommerpostillen%20AM/Kirkepos.htm —pts. 9-10 ]

Now, ELCA bishops are trying to peddle the falsehood that there’s room in the ELCA’s big tent for morally, biblically irreconcilable positions. In the ELCA’s rewriting of Psalm 85, “Godliness and ungodliness can kiss each other in our denomination.”

Worse, even, than Bishop Jessica Crist’s “You know, as an ELCA church you’re not required to participate in our denominationally endorsed apostasy” letter is Florida-Bahamas Synod Bishop Robert Schaefer’s jaw-dropping falsehood: "The [ ELCA “Human Sexuality: Gift and Trust,”] social statement holds that these divergent, even mutually exclusive viewpoints on same-gender relationships are to be respected within the ELCA. Consequently, there is no single position on same-gender marriage that can be said, with integrity, to be the position of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.” [ http://www.icontact-archive.com/R9rHabb8A1WKMXfMVQVZbD0BDt6YwMjl?w=1 ]

There is not a scintilla of integrity in a denomination whose “leaders” have pushed, promoted, and put a denominational imprimatur on sin, yet now artlessly dissemble in their lame attempts to mitigate the fallout from their ungodliness. George Orwell, call your office: your Memory Hole is getting clogged up with historical records the ELCA is trying to jettison to save its financial skin.

Reply

Curt

1/11/2015 05:54:17 am

Any parishioner considering leaving the ELCA should be aware that the pastor will not acknowledge receiving any letter of resignation. So be sure to make a photocopy of your letter. You'll probably have to send copies to the entire church council. And you will probably want to emphasize that you are not inviting a debate; you are making a decision for yourself that requires action on the part of the church council: namely, that they remove your name from the church membership roster. Refer to section C8.04 of the Model Constitution for Congregations of the ELCA: "Membership in this congregation shall be terminated by any of the following: a. death; b. resignation...."

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T-Peg

1/13/2015 02:33:51 am

Does it need to be that formal? I never wrote a letter; I simply met with my pastor and explained my concerns with the direction of the ELCA.

Kathy S.

1/9/2015 02:01:38 am

This reminds me of the verses: "I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth." The ELCA's teaching on homosexual marriage is that it is both good or bad -- whichever you like.

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Chmnitz

1/9/2015 12:59:10 pm

And they say the LCMS is "too congregational."

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Curt

1/12/2015 03:36:19 am

Bishop Robert Schaefer said, "...there is no single position on same-gender marriage that can be said, with integrity, to be the position of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America." Bishop Schaefer's statement needs some clarification. Whenever the ELCA lobbies lawmakers, it is FOR legal same-sex marriage. It is only when the ELCA addresses its own members that it claims to take no position on the matter. Click the "Gay Marriage" category in the right-hand margin and read the following articles: Religious Freedom Under Attack by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America; Radical Activist Elected to Second Highest ELCA Leadership Position; Bishop of Largest ELCA Synod an Activist for Gay Marriage; Liberal Lutherans Want Gay Marriage.

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Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. ​1 Thessalonians 5:21

Dan Skogen

Former ELCA seminary student and former ELCA member who is fed up with the ELCA's consistent mockery of God's Word.

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